ARE YOUR NIGHTS 
WITHOUT ANXIETY 


AN OUNCE OF 
PREVENTION 
iS BETTER THAN VA POUND 
OF REFLEGITON 


6 bool Gh 


P 


make your Vault, or Safe, what you in- 
V AY tend it should be, ‘“‘viz” Burglar Proof, 
invincible against Drill, Wedge, Ex- 
plosives, Electric Burning or any 
other method of burgiarious attack. 

You can accomplish this by using our Electric Protective 
System and Service; you only need a proper explanation of its 
working to enable you to recognize its merit and prove its value 
to you. Read what is said of it by men of the highest reputation 
in electrical science. Obtain the opinion of subscribers, who for 


years have been familiar with its practical workings, and you will 


then be able to appreciate the force of the following remarks from 


the president of one of our large financial institutions. 


EDWIN HOLMES wh ; 
FOUNDER OF THE “Tt has been the means of relieving my mind of a great deal of 
Hotmes ELECTRIC PROTECTIVE COMPANY 


anxiety, had I known its value in this respect alone, would have adopted 
it years ago.” 

Our Central Office System of Electrie Protection was introduced to, and adopted by the 
leading banks and jewelers twenty-five years ago, and, it has stood the test of competition and 
practical every day usage. From time to time valuable improvements have been 
made and adopted until its efficiency has reached the point where it is recognized as the 
standard of merit. It is in use by most of the banking institutions in this city, nearly the 
entire jewelry trade, besides a great majority of the business houses that deal in valuable 
goods. Many of our first subscribers are subscribers to-day, and we have never lost one on 
account of dissatisfaction with either the system or service; these facts are convincing evidence 
of its value to them, and it would prove equally valuable to you; why not give it atrial. The 


cost is trifling. 


WHAT IS THE HOLMES SYSTEM 
OF ELECTRIC PROTECTION ? 


T IS a method of completely surrounding a vault or safe 
with a contintous electrical ctirrent. The manner of 
protecting a bank vault depends upon its style of con- 
struction and other circumstances. An electric lined 


cabinet door and frame is always placed over the vault door, 


entirely concealing it from view when closed which also 


prevents any tampering or experimenting with the locks 
during the night. 

The illustrations show how our cabinet door appears 
on the door of a bank vault when open, and when closed. 

We further protect the sides, top and bottom of the 
vault by entirely lining the inside of the same with our 
electric linings, or if the vault is built out into the room and 
exposed on all sides, we often cover the outside with an elec- 
tric lined cabinet panel work, built or finished to correspond 
with the trim or furnishings of the room. In short we pro- 
tect the vault so as to make it impossible for a burglar to 


= gain access to it, and consequently protect not only the 


“securities within the vault but the vault itself, and also our own reputation for a System of 
Electric Protection that has never been broken through. 


Eighty-five per cent. of the Banks, Savings Banks and Trust Companies in New York 


City, over one half of the Banks and Trust Companies in Boston, a large percentage of 
those in Pittsburg and Philadelphia, together with many in various cities throughout the 
country, are protected against burglary by our System. 

It is encumbent upon bank officers to adopt all good means of protection for their 
securities, and it is an acknowledged fact that electricity is to-day the only absolute means 
of security against the attack of burglars. A bank president, in our : 


a9 


hearing, said to his directors,—“Gentlemen it seems to be a good 
thing, and it is largely in use by Banking Institutions, and I con- 
sider that we owe it to our stockholders and to our depos- 
itors, to avail ourselves of all good means of protection, and 
then if the unexpected should happen, it cannot be said that 
we did not use all precautions.” 


PROTECTION FOR BANKS 
IN TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 


The same System of protection asapplied to City Banks in connection “with our Central 
Office System can be applied to banks in towns and villages, by placing the alarm apparatus 
in the police station or residence of one of the bank officers and if occasion requires, can be 
arranged as an emergency call for use during the day. 


HE safes of jewelers and others are protected by placing 
an electric lined cabinet over the safe or safes as shown 
in these illustrations thus entirely concealing the safe 
from view. These cabinets are built in various 

kinds of wood always conforming to the finish of the sur- 
roundings. From the vault or safe coverings an in- 
dividual wire for each customer is conducted to the 
instruments in our nearest central office. Signals are 
exchanged upon closing at night and upon opening in 

the morning, and after the vault or safe is once closed 


} for the night, it cannot be re-opened without causing 


a visit of our inspectors to know if the party re-opening 
has proper authority. 
. y Written instructions are furnished to us upon an 
/ Instruction Card, which also contains not only the name, but 

the signature of all persons who have the authority to re-open 
and the same is kept on file at our office. In case of .an 
alarm at night, two men rapidly visit your premises, and in case of fire upon your premises 
or in your neighborhood, such parties, are notified, as you have directed upon the Instruction 
Card. 


Safe manufacturers admit that they cannot build a safe or vault that is proof against 
the attack of modern explosives. <A leading safe manufacturer made the statement, which 
was printed in a New York Sunday paper,—that he would agree to open any bank safe in New 
York City, in fifteen minutes by the use of nitro-glycerine, and recently a new and very dan- 


gerous discovery has been made, which places within the hands of the =~ -—~ a 


ae 


burglarizing fraternity, a means of attacking a safe or vault, that has 
not been realized before. Experiments have been made in Chi- ve 
cago, and repeated in other cities, of burning a hole through ve 
the very best and hardest of steel,in a very short time, by / 
the means of the ordinary street current of electricity, k 
in use by the electric light, or trolley companies. f 
We have in our office a piece of chrome steel, 
over one inch thick, in which our employees have in 
two minutes burned a one inch hole through. This | 
certainly places a very dangerous means of attack in . 
the hands of burglars, and the only thing left for a \ 
bank to do, as has been said in several articles that ¥ 
have been recently written in electrical and other 
journals upon this subject, is to provide your vault or safe 


with Electric Protection. 


THIS OUR SYSTEM DOES. 


nsdn anen 


OU may not be aware that the Senate of the United States, under authority of a 
clause in the Act approved September 3oth, 1890, made an appropriation to enable 
the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint a commission of Scientific Mechanical 
Experts, consisting of Robert H. Thurston, of Ithica, N. Y., Theodore N. Ely, of 

Altoona, Pa. and Francis Pratt, of Hartford, Conn., to report on the best method of 


SAFE AND VAULT CONSTRUCTION 
with a view of renewing, or improving the vault facilities of tle Treasury Department, and 
in a published report of go pages and containing 64 illustrations made by this Commission to 
the Secretary of the Treasury, under date of March 15th, 1892. 

We quote the following : 

“In the larger cities your Commission find in successful operation one of the most in- 
teresting, ingenious and probable reliable methods of protection and guarding that can be 
conceived, one that seems where it is practicable to adopt it, in all its completeness, eom- 
petent to make the weakest construction safer than can be the strongest and 
best, if unguarded. This system consists in the envelopment of the safe or vault to be 
protected with an outer casing completely surrounding it in some cases, in others only pro- 
tecting its most exposed and vulnerable parts; in which casing is concealed a net work of 
wires, constituting the circuit of a battery placed at some distant and easily guarded place, as 
at a police station, or at the Central Office of the System, where an ample guard is always on 
duty. In some cities hundreds of these circuits are under the protection of such central 
guard, 

The current of a permanent battery of low tension is kept constantly circulating in this 
circuit, and affects at the same time, a needle indicator under the eye of the watch at the 
office. The safe cannot be disturbed without disturbing the circuit and giving the alarm by 


causing the needle to drop back to zero, and ringing a bellasan alarm. An attempt to re- 


move the wires is sure to result in the breaking of the current. Whether the safe is opened 
by a friend or foe, a record is made at the Central Station, and this is carefully preserved as 
evidence, should it be called for later. 

Regular reports are made by the office and sent at pre-arranged intervals to the pro- 
prictor of the safe thus protected. Incase of an irregularity the proprietor is immediately 
notified, and meantime a guard sent directly to the safe. The system is as simple as com- 
plete, and the inventor Mr. Holmes, has established a considerable number of stations in 
the City of New York, in Boston and elsewhere, which are, so far as the observation of 
your Commission and general testimony indicate, most satisfactory. 

The method is one capable of very extended application, and would find useful ap- 
plication at the Treasury where, if applied, it should be arranged to bring into circuit both 
the Police Station nearest the department and the residence of one or more of the Officers of 
tne Preasury. 

Points difficult of protection by the usual system of armor, or which it would not be 


thought economical on the whole to so protect, can be by this method made safe.” 


The practical tests of the experts employed by the Commission on Vault 
and Safe Work of all makes occupied over one year, the complete report of the 
Commission, including the illustrations, requiring a pamphlet of over one- 


hundred pages. 


Since the report of 


the Commission was 


made, we have applied 


our System of Protection 


to eleven vaults and four 


safes in the Treasury 


Department, this illus- 
tration showing the 
plant, which is located 
in the main entrance of 
the Treasury Building, 
as well as being con- 
nected with an outside 


eentral office. 


CENTRAL OFFICE NUMBER ONE AT 26 CORTLANDT STREET. 


are, Protect Your Store From Burglary. be 


Our PrRorecTion IS ALSO APPLIED TO STORES, MANUFACTURING PLACES, WAREHOUSES, &C. 


LL windows, doors, hatchways, scuttles and other openings, are connected by means of 
springs and other devices, partitions and skylights are wired, and glass doors and 
windows are screened. In short, every available place where a burglar could force 
an entrance, is protected. 

But burglary is secondary to many other valuable features of our system. 

Do you realize how many nights your store is locked up with windows, doors or other 
openings left open? 

Do you realize what damage might be done to your stock by rain through an open window? 

The Holmes System tells you that every opening is closed, before you lock up, for when 
the subscriber calls to close, he is promptly notified by signal from our office, that the prem- 
ises are, or are not properly closed, and consequently not going away supposing everything 
is right. We give you positive information. 

This is a most valuable feature of our system to a store subscriber, and is appreciated 
by different ones every night in the year. 

Do you know whether any one enters your store after it is locked for the night, and 
have you any idea of how many thousand dollars’ worth of goods are removed from stores 
during the night, by dishonest employees. 


Do you realize how easy it is to obtain duplicate keys? 


Did you ever think of the possibility of some one, having knowledge of the fact, obtain- 
ing the keys of your store from the pockets of an employee, while he was sleeping? 

The Holmes Protection gives instant notice at the Central Office, if your store is 
reopened by any onE—and the store is visited by an inspector to see if the party opening has 
the proper authority. 

Do you know what time your employees open your store in the morning, and at what 
hour it is closed at night? 

The Holmes Company send you a report every 
Monday morning showing the hour your store was opened : 


and closed each day during the previous week. 

There may be a fire upon your premises, which fact 
is telephoned or telegraphed to you immediately. 

Your store may be next to one on fire and your 


premises broken open to get hose and water to burning 


building. In this case the Holmes Company notify yo 


Lastly Tt soy 
the Holmes officers are again on hand—Never have failed. 


Burglars may attack your store 


From the time the Central Office receives your 
closing signal, until the time the premises are opened by 


the proper person in the morning, you have the constant 


STORAGE BATTERY PLANT IN 518 BROADWAY OFFICE. 


service of an invisible, alert and sleepless watchman. 
Investigate and think over these many advantages of the 


HOLMES SYSTEM OF ELECTRIC PROTECTION. 


No business house carrying a valuable line of goods, can afford to be without it. 


WHAT ISVSAID OP 3) HE VEOEMES 
SYSTEM (OF WELECTRIC, PROTEG 
TION BY EXPERT ELECTRICIANS 
AND PRACTICAL INVESTIGATORS. 


Mr. E. HOLMES, 
PRESIDENT HOLMES ELECTRIC PROTECTIVE Co., 


; NEW YORK. 
DEAR SIR:— 

In accordance with your request I have carefully examined the protective system operated by your Company, both 
as a whole and with particular reference to the more recent improvements, which have been added from time to time with a 
view to anticipating all possible contingencies. 

The principal requirements of a practically perfect protective system are that it shall be continuous and reliable inits action; 
that every part of each circuit shall be so completely under the control of the central office that attendants may ascertain their 
precise condition at any instant of the twenty-four hours; that it shall be so arranged that no minute part of the circuits or pro- 
tected devices can be disturbed in the slightest degree by any one either skilled or unskilled in the art, without instant notification 
of the fact being given to the central office; and that a convenient method of signalling between the central office and its cus- 
tomers shall be provided. 

After a thorough investigation I am convinced that the Holmes system fulfills these requirements 1n each particular, and by 
the recent addition of certain novel auxiliary devices, which enable attendants to change at will the electrical condition of the 
different circuits, renders any tampering with the same, by skilled experts. an impossibility. 

Those engaged in electrical pursuits have long been familiar with the Holmes system of central office burglar alarms, and 
are aware that this system has served as a model for many imitators; but these imitations of the older system lack the modern 
improvements which now make that system so reliable and effective. It should not be forgotten that the rapid increase of prac- 
tical applications of electricity, with the consequent general dissemination of technical knowledge has rendered necessary certain 
refinements of precaution, as it were, which were not essential a few years ago. 


Very truly yours, 
GEO, BE PRESCODMT Rs, 
ELECTRICIAN AND ELECTRICAL EXPERT. 


BaD 


E. HOLMES, EsQ., 
PRESIDENT HOLMES ELECTRIC PROTECTIVE Co., 
NEW YORK. 
DEAR SIR :— } 
I have been very much interested in the examination of your system of electrically protecting bank vaults and safes, 
from a central office, in reflecting upon the successive stages of improvement in apparatus of this kind within my recollection. 

I was especially struck with the device, at once simple and effectual, whereby the standard of* electrical resistance imside the 
vault, safe, or other protected premises, can be instantly changed at will, by the operator at the central station. This happy ex- 
pedient will completely baffle the most ingenious, persevering and scientific burglar 

All this sounds very technical to the ordinary person, and I shall be better understood, no doubt, if I say that your system 
is now in every respect equivalent to the presence of a living watchman and telegraph operator inside the safe or vault. No mat- 
ter what hour of the day or night an electric signal may be sent to him by way of inquiry, a response impossible to be counter- 
feited, is instantly telegraphed back, which cannot come from any other point than the one protected, showing that allis well A 
failure to receive such response would, of course, under any circumstances, lead to immediate investigation. 

It is hard to conceive of any further safeguard which human ingenuity can add to such a system as your company now has. 
The wires protect not only themselves, but every part of the apparatus connected with them, with the same fidelity that they do 
the treasure they are set to guard. 

This contest between the wits of the rogue and the wits of the inventor has now been going on for thirty years, but the 


inventor has always kept well in advance, and it affords me the greatest satisfaction to be assured from personal investigation 
that the inventor is still as far in advance as ever. The public especially is to be congratulated that such is the case, and most 
certainly owes no very small measure of thanks to the skillful brains which have so effectually exerted themselves in protecting 
the accumulations of its industry from the clutches of the lawless depredator. 


Yours very truly, 
FRANK L. POPE, 
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. 
em 


From Prof. Brackett of Princeton College, 


PRINCETON, N. J. 
HOLMES ELECTRIC PROTECTIVE Co., 


GENTLEMEN :—I have for several years been acquainted with your system of Electrical Protection, as well as with various 
others which are employed for the security of safes, vaults, etc. 

I have carefully examined some of your more recent devices, and especially those by means of which the attendant at the 
central office can at any moment change the resistance in the circuit, and thereby determine whether the conducting wires leading 
thereto, together with their connections, are continuous and inorder. The means by which you accomplish this are both sure 
in their action and easily applied, and, moreover, they enable the attendant at the office to ascertain at once whether any alarm 
which may be sounded is due to some accidental cause or to unauthorized interference. This isan exceedingly important feature 
of your system, and it, together with other of your recently patented devices, I believe make the system more secure than any 
other in use. 

Very truly yours, 


Cary BRACE Day, 


Dad 


From Prof. Morton, President of Stevens Institute of Technology. 


HOBOKEN, N. J. 
HOLMES ELECTRIC PROTECTIVE Co., 


GENTLEMEN :—For many years past I have been familiar with the various systems of electric protection, used in this 
country and abroad, having been called upon in various connections to examine and report upon the merits of such systems. 

I have recently given a careful examination to your system, as now in operation for the protection of safes and vaults in 
New York, and I have in the same connection carefully examined and compared your various patents, as well as the recent ones. 

This examination and comparison satisfies me that your present system, including the devices set forth in your more recent 
patents, offers a far more complete protection than can be secured or ever has been secured without the employment of these 

evices. 

I have in view especially those arrangements by which the attendant at the central office can, at any time, change the resis- 
tance in any circuits and also determine if the circuits and connections are perfect in every respect, throughout the safe or vault 
and connecting lines from the central office. 

Such changes of resistance and tests of circuit, being made at sufficiently frequent intervals, render it impossible for a 
burglar, no matter how expert he might be in all electrical science, to arrange any method by which he could substitute an 
exterior resistance for that within the safe and then cut off the line to the safe without sending in an alarm. 

Without these devices, any system (not excepting your own system as operated some years since) involved a vulnerable 
feature and might have failed had the requisite skill and knowledge of electric science been brought to bear upon it by a burglar. 

Though no such failure did occur, it would not be safe to rest satisfied on that ground, in view of the great attention which 
is being directed to electric subjects, and the familiarity with electric instruments which js rapidly extending throughout the 
community at large. 

With these devices and their intelligent use, 1am unable to conceive of any way 1n which your system should be made other- 
wise than perfect in 1ts protective action. 

Very truly yours, 


HENRY MORTON, President. 


From Prof. Barker of the University of Pennsylvania, 
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 


HOLMES ELECTRIC PROTECTIVE COMPANY 
GENTLEMEN :—I have examined in interest the electrical devices which are now in use by your Company for the pro- 
tection of property. And. asa result, Iam of the opinion that these devices are sound in principle and efficient in operation. 

Naturally, the burglar seeks to circumvent the Protective Company by the counter-use of electrical knowledge, and in con- 
sequence means of protection which were quite sufficient a few years ago are now practically worthless. It is clear, therefore, 
as it seems to me, that an efficient protective system requires not only a fundamentally sound principle as a basis of its operations, 
but it requires also the addition of new methods and new devices, resulting from the progress of electrical science ; methods and 
devices, too, which are not capable of successfully being tampered with by the criminal classes. 

The present system of the Holmes Company appears to me to meet both of these conditions. It rests upon a broad founda- 
tion of correct scientific principle, in the first place; and in the second, the superstructure which has been reared upon this 
foundation is made up of protective devices and methods which are as efficient as they are novel and ingenious. In proof of this 
I may specify the device by means of which the resistance of the circuit may be varied within the premises to be protected, and 
at the pleasure of the central office; an arrangement certain to baffle, as it would seem, the most experienced professional 
cracksman. 

The interests which are at stake by business men who require such a protective system, would appear to be too great to 
allow them to run any risk 1n this matter. The best that can be had should be none too good for them. The skill of the burglar, 
as well as the skill of the inventor, increases with advancing knowledge ‘To use an inferior system of protection, therefore, 
simply because it is cheaper, is apparently to pay a premium upon the commission of crime. 

It gives me pleasure to state, therefore, that in my judgment the system of protection now in use by the Holmes poarnern | is 
correct in principle, and accomplishes its results by means of special methods and devices which are entirely modern and highly 
efficient, and which in consequence afford an ample security. 


Respectfully yours, 
GEORGE F. BARKER. 


Dd 


No matter what means you at present employ to provide security, you 
will find our system of protection invaluable in itself, or as an additional pre- 
caution, making your vault or safe just what you intend they should be—— 
BURGLAR PROOF. 


NOTHER branch of our service is what is known as 


NIGHT-WATCH SIGNALS, 


which have now been in successful operation for several years. 

The system of employing night-watchmen without some method or device by which it 
can be positively known that they are continually on duty, is very deficient. By our system 
we place in your office or in different locations throughout your entire building, electric signal 
boxes, which are connected with some one of our offices. The watchmen are required to 
operate these signal boxes at stated periods of time—say each half-hour during the night. 
Each box has its own signal, so that should one be omitted, it is known in the office what part 
of the building is neglected ; and it is the duty of the office after, say five minutes’ grace, to 
send an officer to the premises to find out why the signal is net given. The time the signal 
was omitted ; the time that our messenger left the office for the premises from which the sig- 
nal should have been received, and the watchman’s excuse for not giving the signal, are-mat=— 


ters of record at the office, a copy of which is sent to the proprietor the following morning in IN 
. 


his daily report. YO. 
Our service is the only one that keeps a contin: — 
uous watch on the watchman. With any sort of a 
watchman’s clock system you know nothing of the 
nights occurrence until you come to your office and ex- 
amine the clock dial. We have an eye on the watchman §f 
every hour that he is on duty, and if a signal is missed, we 
send to interview the watchman and know the reason why. 
If you employ watchmen, it will pay you to inves- 
tigate our system of signal service: the rates are reason- 
able and the service the most satisfactory to be had. 


12 PEN REGISTER INSTRUMENTS 
ON WHICH WATCHMEN’S SIGNALS ARE RECEIVED. 


5 be N our forty years experience introducing and 
¢ 4 developing Electrical Protection, we have 
x Ose re had at various times the competition of un- 


scrupulous imitators, who made bold attempts 
to profit by infringing our patent rights, and trading on our reputation, and of others who 
through ignorance of what is essential in a practical working Burglar 
Alarm System have attempted to introduce either abandoned, 
worthless, or impractical ideas which are always pre- 
sented in the guise of great improvements on the 
Holmes System; concerns of this character have 
their day, and are then numbered among the 
things that have been. 

The Holmes System of to-day is the result 
of the combined efforts of men who have spent 
all of their business life in the practical working 
and study of Electrical Protection, and is free 
of all crude or complicated ideas, and when you 
are considering the question of Electrical Pro- 
tectt “Holmes Company are neither infringers, imitators, theorists, 
or stock jobbers, and that their success has had as its basis a System of Protection embodying 
merit of the highest degree, supported by the constant and undivided attention of practical 


business men. 


Holmes Electric Protective Company. 


EXECUTIVE OFFICES: 
ROOMS, 415, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417 HAVEMEYER BUILDING, 
26 CORTLANDT STREET. 


EINES EAC ESTE GANS CENTRAL OFFICE TWO: 
Rooms 458, 439, 420, 423, 422, 423 518 Broadway. 
Havemeyer Building. 
CENTRAL OFFICE FOUR: 
729 Sixth Avenue. 


CENTRAL OFFICE THREE: 
34 East 14th Street. 


NEW YORK. 


Brooklyn Office: 457 FULTON STREET. 


—_ PA eres eee 2 Lee 


Holmes Electric Protective Company of Boston, 


EXECUTIVE OFFICES AND CENTRAL STATION: 


238 DEVONSHIRE STREET, : : : : BOSTON. 
SMS ss se st 
Holmes Electric Protective peeve Of Philadelphia, 
£{2 CHESTNUT STREET, : . PHILADELPHIA. 
Sst sh sk st st st 


Holmes Electric Protective eal of Pittsburg, 
244 FIFTH AVENUE, = e PIT TSBURG, PA. 


AVERY 
COLUMBLA UNTER Ship 


WATKINS PRESS, 9-15 MURRAY ST., N. Y. 


